EPPP: The Psychology Licensing Exam

ASPPB writes the exam and administers it for the licensing boards. The exam has two parts, and ASPPB says all 66 of its member jurisdictions require Part 1. Puerto Rico’s board also offers its own exam as a route to licensure.

“We created and continue to administer the two-part EPPP exam on behalf of our 66 jurisdictional boards in the U.S. and Canada. All 66 member jurisdictions require you to achieve a passing score on the EPPP (Part 1–Knowledge) prior to licensure. Some jurisdictions also require you to achieve a passing score on the EPPP (Part 2–Skills).”

ASPPB, EPPP Basics

Part 1 is the knowledge exam. ASPPB says it assesses:

• “General knowledge of psychology, intervention, and assessment”
• “Grasp of theories in areas such as cognition, affect, and development”
• “Awareness of key research topics and factors impacting psychological functioning”

Part 2, the skills exam, assesses “Application of the knowledge tested in EPPP (Part 1–Knowledge) to decision-making in typical situations of real-world, independent practice.” ASPPB recommends a passing score of 500 on each part: “The recommended passing score for EPPP (Part 1–Knowledge) is 500.”

Each board decides who may sit and what counts: “Each of our 66 jurisdictional boards determines its own requirements for licensure and approves applications to practice in its jurisdiction.” On timing, ASPPB advises “You may access the EPPP (Part 1–Knowledge) after you have completed your academic degree and registered as a candidate for licensure in a jurisdiction.” The licensure guide places the exam in the sequence of steps.

ASPPB publishes the first-time pass rate for each doctoral program each year. It says it does so “to inform and educate students who are selecting doctoral programs, educators of psychologists, as well as the developers of the EPPP.” The 27th edition “includes graduate doctoral training programs accredited by the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association.” It covers “first‐time takers who took the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology® (EPPP Part 1‐Knowledge) during the period from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2025.”

Its two summary rows are by accreditation, not by degree. For all accredited doctoral programs there were 18,941 first-time takers and a pass rate of 75%. For nonaccredited or other doctoral programs there were 2,095 takers and a pass rate of 38.9%. ASPPB adds that across most sample years, doctoral-level candidates from accredited programs taking the exam for the first time reached an average pass rate above 80%. The current window’s 75% sits below that, and the report says “the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected doctoral training experiences and student learning outcomes.”

“Please note that care should be exercised if comparisons across schools and programs are made. If performance on the EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) is seen as an outcome measure of a school or program, it should be viewed as only one such measure.”

ASPPB, 2026 Psychology Licensing Exam Scores by Doctoral Program, Foreword

Two features of the data limit comparisons. The report says “School/Program names are based solely on the information candidates enter during EPPP registration.” It also says “Where the number of candidates tested per program is four or fewer, neither the number tested nor the pass rate is shown.”

This site reads ASPPB’s program rows for the 117 ranked programs and uses the rate where at least 5 first-time takers were reported (2026 edition, first-time takers 2021-2025). That gives 93 programs and 8,240 first-time takers in all. The median program’s pass rate is 68%, the middle half of programs fall between 56% and 78%, and 29 of the 93 are at or above the 75% that ASPPB reports for all accredited programs.

The EPPP pass rates ranking lists the programs by first-time pass rate, and the post on EPPP results for PsyD schools sets out how those rates spread by school type and specialty. Each program’s card in the national ranking prints its rate and its number of takers. The rate is one of two measures in the ranking’s Outcomes factor, which the methodology page describes.

ASPPB’s report also gives the share of questions answered correctly in each of eight content areas. Takers from accredited programs answered a larger share correctly in every one of them.

A state’s own rule sets the passing score and the timing. The table gives each rule as the board or statute states it, for the states read here.

Some states add a separate exam on their own laws, which ASPPB describes: “Most jurisdictions require some examination of jurisdictional laws and regulations.” The licensure guide lists the law exams the states read here name.

ASPPB is replacing the two parts with one exam. Its news release says that “in 2024, the ASPPB Board of Directors took responsibility for directing the evolution of the EPPP into an integrated competency examination that assesses both knowledge and skills in a single examination.” Before that, a two-part mandate had been set for January 1, 2026. California’s board says ASPPB’s October 22, 2024 decision was “to rescind the January 1, 2026 EPPP two-part exam mandate.”

• Timeline. The integrated exam “will be beta-tested in Spring 2027 and operationally administered starting in Fall 2027.”
• Current exams. The two parts “will no longer be available to first-time candidates” once the integrated EPPP takes effect in the fourth quarter of 2027.
• Retakes. “Candidates who failed the EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) or EPPP (Part 2-Skills) prior to the effective date of the integrated EPPP will be allowed to retake the respective exam through March 31, 2028.”
• Fee. “Effective April 1, 2028, the integrated EPPP exam fee will be $650.”
• Eligibility. ASPPB recommends that “Candidates should have completed coursework from a doctoral degree program acceptable to the licensing board/college.” Each board still approves its own candidates.